


Office Hours

by boneswrites



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Both Erik and Charles are Crushing Harder Than A 12-Year Old, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, High School Teachers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 03:57:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boneswrites/pseuds/boneswrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gym coach Erik Lehnsherr and Biology teacher Charles Xavier, both employed at Westchester High, have been dancing around each other for quite some time; always getting out of their way to catch glimpses of each other, their attraction undeniable. When they finally build up the courage to take a step forward, a personal matter suddenly and unexpectedly tears Erik away from Charles. Unable to control the situation and caught off guard, Erik has no choice but to leave, with no trace of his whereabouts. </p><p>A High School Teachers AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Office Hours

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm happy to introduce my second multi-chapter Cherik fic! I'm really excited and nervous for this one, and I really hope you guys enjoy. This is going to be fluffy with some angst. And honestly, I couldn't resist the idea of Erik and Charles as high school teachers! Just imagine it and you can thank me later! I'm on twitter @michaelfassys if you want to follow the progress of this story. Feedback is greatly appreciated and means so much!

The sudden eruption of the bell echoing through the hallways of Westchester High lit up the faces of Charles Xavier’s thirty students currently seated across from him. They immediately began to close their notebooks and packing their bags.

“Alright, guys,” Charles spoke up. “Don’t forget your homework. Have a great day.”

Some students returned the words, while others pushed their way out. It was halfway through the day and lunchtime was one period away. Charles’s stomach growled with hunger at the thought.

He scanned the now empty classroom and sighed, moving to straighten the desks and push the chairs in.

“They’re disastrous, aren’t they?” A voice spoke.

Charles looked up and saw Moira MacTaggert leaning against the doorframe, her arms crossed over her chest.

“You’re telling me,” Charles chuckled, going back to the task at hand. “How is your batch treating you?”

“You know, looking at me like I’m an alien with two heads,” she walked into the room, jumping on one of the desks, sitting down on the table.

Charles and Moira have been friends ever since they were children, living next door to each other. They went on to study at university together and their bond only strengthened over the years. In light of that, they don’t tiptoe around each other, they dive right into any topic.

“So, how’s it going?” Moira wiggled her eyebrows.

“Moira, please,” a light blush decorated Charles’s cheeks.

“Tell me!”

“Nothing, nothing is going.”

Moira narrowed her eyes at the man, studying him.

Charles cleared his throat, walking back to his desk and falling backwards on his leather chair.

“You know, you’ll never know if you never try.”

Charles sighed. “It’s not that, it’s just—I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Maybe you’ll get lucky during lunch.”

A small chuckle left Charles’s lips, quite unsure whether he wanted to be lucky or unlucky during lunchtime.

\---

Walking into the cafeteria, Charles realized that he was in fact, unlucky. Spotting Moira sitting on a table near the windows, he grabbed his favorite sandwich—smoked turkey with cheese—and a bottle of orange juice and joined her. He looked around the large room, students chitchatting with each other, some quietly others very loudly and sighed, leaning back into his seat.

“No luck?”

Charles shook his head and began unpacking the sandwich, taking a bite into his mouth.

“The day is still young,” Moira took a sip from her soda can.

“School’s out in two hours, Moira,” Charles huffed.

“In that case, the year is still young.”

 _Oh, boy_ , Charles thought.

Twenty minutes before lunchtime was over, Charles’s phone binged. He pulled it out from his pocket and opened the newly received text.

“It’s from Alex,” Charles slid his finger across the screen. “He’s at the gym, wants me to drop by.”

“How’s he doing?” Moira asked.

“Better, he’s slowly adjusting. Scott is getting there faster, but they’re getting better.”

“Well, Scott’s younger so that’s understandable. But I’m glad to hear they’re getting there.”

“I’m just worried I’m doing something wrong,” Charles sighed.

“You’re doing everything you can, and those boys love you. I thank God that they left them with you,” Moira smiled.

“Yeah, I suppose,” Charles nodded. “Well, I will see you later then, love.”

\---

Alex and Scott, the Summers brothers, have been living with Charles for a little under two months. Their parents had to travel abroad for business and neither of them could stay behind and taking their kids with them wasn’t an option. Charles, being a close friend of their family, offered to take the boys in until their parents returned. It was easy, they knew Charles and the boys were absolutely in love with the man, which really made everything much easier. Even though the boys were familiar with Charles, they were having a little difficulty adjusting to the new circumstances.

Charles walked into the sports hall and darted his eyes, looking around for the teenager. He heard dribbling coming from the basketball court and followed the sound. Alex loved basketball, he was good at it, too, he was even on the school team. Charles spotted Alex running along and jumping on the tips of his toes and the ball swiftly falling into the net. Charles smiled, watching Alex grab the ball and pass it to….Oh.

Charles tried not to stare, he really did, but the tall lean man, currently wearing a white tight basketball jersey that hugged his muscular chest so beautifully wasn’t making it any easier. He watched as the man stole the ball from Alex and scored a goal himself. And just like that, Charles turned out to be lucky.

He stood in complete silence as the two continued on with their game unaware of his presence, Charles trying his best to keep his eyes on Alex but kept failing over and over again, his eyes betraying him as they drift off to the man he knew as Coach Erik Lehnsherr.

“That was a good game,” Charles strode into the court when water bottles were being opened and drained in no time.

“Charles—Mr. Xavier,” Alex quickly corrected himself.

“Hey, Alex. Lehnsherr,” he smiled at the gym coach.

“Xavier,” Erik smiled back. “And thank you.”

Charles nodded and turned to face Alex. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Nope,” Alex shook his head. “Free period. You know my favorite words are ‘free’ and ‘free’.”

“I sure do,” Charles chuckled.

“Can we have Chinese for dinner?” Alex asked, drying his hair with his towel.

“We can have whatever you want,” Charles remained focused on Alex but he could sense Erik’s fiery gaze burning into the side of his face.

“Awesome!” Alex then turned to Erik. “Thanks for the game, Coach.”

“Anytime,” Erik replied.

“We should do it again before the game,” Alex suggested.

“We should,” Erik agreed.

“Do me a favor and pick up your brother, please,” Charles called out after Alex began walking away. He heard back something along the times of ‘fine, after I shower’ but he couldn’t be too sure.

“What’s that about? Family?” Erik’s interest peaked.

“Something like that, it’s complicated.”

“How complicated?”

“Pretty complicated.”

“So the boys live with you?” Erik’s eyebrow shot up.

“It’s a long story for another day, and certainly another location.”

A small laugh escaped Erik’s lips, the lips Charles couldn’t tear his eyes from.

Charles’s blue eyes quickly flickered up to meet Erik’s identical ones and held the connection for a few moments before forcing himself to focus on the bland off-white painted walls behind Erik. It was no comparison to the man’s eyes. However, Charles knew Erik’s eyes were still set on him, mischief and challenge coating the insides. Charles could feel the heat radiating off Erik’s damp skin and colliding with his own, making him shiver from head to toe.

“Right,” Charles cleared his throat, the marked ground suddenly being interesting in his eyes. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Erik frowned.

“For spending time with Alex. It’s been hard and um, just thank you.”

“He’s a great kid, I love hanging out with him,” Erik’s face softened.

Charles nodded and began to slowly back away, still facing the taller man. “I gotta go, but it was nice seeing you.”

“Nice seeing you, too,” Erik smirked. “Hopefully I’ll see you more frequently.”

“Sure,” Charles nodded and turned, walking as fast as he could while trying to appear like he wasn’t walking as fast as he could. He was absolutely sure his face was as bright as a tomato by now. Damn Coach Erik Lehnsherr. He had forgotten to ask what Alex had wanted.

\---

Thankful to his empty time slots until the end of the day, Charles found himself in a little bit of a blur regarding his very brief yet very inciting interaction with the coach. His mind went back to the wet light brown hair, and the sweat beads trickling down the pale skin, disappearing into the ginger stubble sitting on the man’s face.

Charles shook his head violently, trying to snap himself out of it. Yes, the man was attractive, very attractive indeed, but this wasn’t professional, in his perspective, whatever this is. They work together, that can turn out to be very, very messy. Yet again, he doesn’t even know if the man has mutual…thoughts. They’ve bumped into each other every now and then since the beginning of the school year—it’s Erik’s first year teaching here, Charles needs to get more information about that stat—but that doesn’t change the fact that, yes, they’ve flirted with each other and looked at each other, maybe a little longer than friends would or whatever but honestly, even a tree would flirt with Erik Lehnsherr. So, Charles couldn’t count on that sole fact. No, he needed more.

Wait, hold up, Charles paused his thoughts. He isn’t even looking for anything right now. He’s been preoccupied with Alex and Scott and they need and deserve his undivided attention during this time. He can’t push them to the side because he’s got a crush. So what? Everyone’s got crushes, they don’t stop their entire life and make said crush the center of attention. And right then, Charles’s thoughts go back to Erik’s glossy eyes and pink lips.

Charles shakes his head with a sigh. _You are so screwed, Xavier_ , he thinks.

He spots Moira just a few meters in front of him twenty minutes later once the final bell marking the end of the day rang. He took wider steps to catch up to her.

“I got lucky. I made an ass of myself, but I got lucky.”

“No way!” Moira gasped. “Do explain!”

“He was with Alex…in the gym. They were playing basketball.”

“Ooooh,” Moira smirked.

Charles sighed, “I don’t know what to do about it.”

“I do.”

“I know you do but I can’t do that,” he scoffed.

“Why not? What’s the worst that can happen?”

“You know why I can’t. I have Alex and Scott.”

“They’re not your children, Charles.”

“I know but right now I am their father or guardian or whatever you want to call it—I’m responsible for them, and I can’t get sidetracked by this. It’s not worth it.”

“’Not worth it’? Charles, are you hearing yourself?”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to say that you won’t put your life on hold,” Moira wasn’t teasing anymore. “I know the level of commitment those boys need, I’m not saying abandon them. All I’m saying is you shouldn’t use them as an excuse.”

“A what?”

“I love you, Charles, you know how much and I’m not afraid to speak my mind and right now, I think that’s exactly what’s happening. You’re scared, I don’t know what you’re scared of, but you are. You said it yourself, the boys are getting better, and the transition if getting smoother. I just don’t want you to neglect yourself in the name of Alex and Scott.”

Charles ran his hand through his brown wavy hair, calculating Moira’s words.

“And this isn’t just about Erik,” Moira continued. “Ever since you took them in, you’ve been bottled up. From school to home, home to school. I understand you’re worried about them and you want the best for them, but I’m worried about you and I want the best for you. Those kids are amazing for you, I know that, just please don’t cut out every other branch in your life. Alex is smart and mature, he’ll understand.”

And on cue, Charles spotted Alex walking towards him and Moira, a little boy latched onto his fingers.

“Thank you, Alex,” Charles smiled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex shrugged it off.

“And how are you doing today, you little monkey?” Charles kneeled down, wanting to be in Scott’s line of sight.

The little boy gave him two thumbs up and a smile.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Charles beamed, scooping up Scott into his arms and standing back up. “Hey Alex, what did you need from me earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

“When I came by the gym.”

“Oh, that, yeah, no I didn’t need anything.”

“Then why did you ask me to drop by?” Charles’s eyebrows rose.

“Because Coach was there,” Alex replied as if it were the most obvious question in the universe.

Charles was taken aback as he stumbled for words. “Coach Lehnsherr?”

“Duh, who else.”

“Alex, what’s going on?”

Alex sighed. “I thought it would be nice if you two, you know, saw each other. I mean, school’s talking.”

“What are they talking about?” Panic began rising in Charles’s gut.

“You two, what, you think it goes on unnoticed? How you look at each other? What’s between you?”

“There’s nothing between us,” Charles whispered, his grip tightening on the boy settled against his hip.

“Sad story,” Alex shrugged. “You should really change that. You look at him, he looks at you, you should do something about that,” Alex nodded and walked away to join a group of his friends.

Charles’s eyes were blown wide, his mouth hanging open. He attempted to form any kind of sentence, but failing to do so, he opted to close his mouth and swallow, trying to moisturize his suddenly dry throat.

“Alex is playing matchmaker,” Charles heard Moira speak.

He nodded absentmindedly, still trying to wrap his head around the conversation that just took place.

“I’d say figure something out with Erik before Alex does.”

“Yeah, yeah, definitely,” Charles’s answer is robotic, clearly still in shock. “Kids these days. Oh, one more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Erik is very fond of Alex.”

“All settled then,” Moira smiled, ruffled Scott’s hair and began walking away. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Charles.”

\---

Erik walked into the locker room with a towel wrapped around his waist, his mind somewhere else completely. Or with someone else completely.

“Whoa, hey, buddy,” an arm steadied Erik’s body.

“Sorry, hey, man,” Erik’s hand settled on the man’s shoulder.

“You okay?”

“I’m good, Logan,” Erik smiled.

“Well, I do like that smile. Spill.”

“He dropped by at the gym, I had a quick match with Alex and apparently there’s something going on there.”

“Something going on there?”

“I mean like, I think Alex is staying with him or something, like they’re family.”

“Did you ask him about it?”

“I did, he said it was complicated and it was a long story,” Erik shrugged.

“Well, maybe you can ask him about it next time,” Logan teased.

“It was really good seeing him, though,” Erik smiled shyly.

“Is something going on you wanna tell me about?” Logan cocked an eyebrow.

“You’ll be the first to know, I promise. I told him it would be nice to hopefully see him more frequently. Logan, I said _nice_ and _frequently_ ,” Erik groaned as he sat down on the bench in the middle of the room.

Logan chuckled, taking a seat next to his best friend. “Don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’ll see him more frequently.”

“You’re an ass,” Erik punched Logan’s arm.

“Seriously though, I’m sure you’ll see more of him.”

“Am I going crazy?”

“No, Erik, you just have a crush.”

“A crush? What am I, twelve?”

“Sounds like it,” Logan shrugged.

Erik shook his head. “Well, you’re not wrong.”

“I’m lifting, wanna join?” Logan stood up.

“I’m heading out, actually. I’m sore.”

“I’m sure you are,” Logan teased.

“Oh my God,” Erik rolled his eyes. “Who’s the child now?”

“Alright, alright. Where you heading?”

“No idea, I guess we’re still figuring that out.”

“I’ll call you when I’m done here and I can pass by.”

“Sounds good,” Erik nodded.

Erik and Logan have been best friends for years. They met when Erik had just moved to America from Germany when he was nineteen years old. They first crossed paths at the burger place Erik was working at, Logan became a regular and they ended up sharing a dorm at college. Nothing could possibly come between the two men, they’re tighter than brothers are.

\---

Erik cut his outing short, just thirty minutes after Logan arrived. Concerned, Logan followed Erik outside, noticing his deflated moon compared to his livelihood in the locker room. Erik brushed him off, saying that he’s tired and needs to sleep it off. Reluctantly, Logan let it pass and watched as Erik began his journey home.

Living in the middle of the city has its perks, Erik knew that. Everything was in walking distance, no need for any transportation and he found that walking is quite relaxing, he can use the time to think and reflect and that is exactly what he needed. He pushed the key into the door and walked into his apartment, shedding off his jacket and dropping it on one of the armchairs positioned around the couch in the middle of his living room. Grabbing a cold beer bottle from the fridge, Erik popped the lid open and made his way towards the balcony. He let his body fall backwards on one of the cushioned wooden garden chairs with a sigh, allowing his body to relax. He glanced up into the sky and watched the silver stars twinkle in the dark night. A small smile spread on his lips, something inside him hoping Charles was looking at the same stars.

Charles was.


End file.
